By Johnny Bravo

Owen Westbrook was awarded The Farricker Spirit Award. Owen is everything you look for in a Farricker Award nominee: consummate representative of Spirit of the Game, fierce competitor and talented player. His play as a central handler over the last 6 years was invaluable in the team’s run from 11th in 2011 to a national championship in 2014. However, his voice is truly what sets him apart. After finishing dead last in spirit in 2011, Owen played an influential role in reshaping the culture of the team and in turn how the team was perceived by the community. Though never a captain, Owen has stepped into a number of leadership roles within the team over the years, including coordinating fields, workouts and play calling on the offensive line. Owen is intelligent, witty and kind and a great friend and teammate. He would be a very worthy recipient of Bravo’s first Farricker Spirit Award.

The Farricker Spirit Award is given to the player in the men’s division of the USA Ultimate’s National Championship Series adjudged to have exhibited personal responsibility, integrity, and fairness combined with a high standard of playing ability. Each Nationals-qualifying men’s team nominates one player from their own team as the person who best represents Spirit of the Game.

Bravo will be hosting a series of pre-season open practices. These practices are a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in trying out for the team to get to know the guys and get some early season touches before tryouts. We’ll run on Tuesdays from 5:30 p.m. until dark at Westfield Village Park. Mark the following dates on your calendar:

3/17

3/24

4/14

4/21

4/28

5/5

5/12

5/19

5/26

Tryout Information

We will be holding an open tryout on Saturday, May 30 and an invite-only tryout on Sunday, May 31.

While the big tournaments of this year’s club ultimate season are fast approaching, right now, it’s World Cup season. In a recent NY Times Magazine story, US Soccer Team President Jurgen Klinsmann bristled at the American habit of rewarding star players for their past achievements with big contracts. He even named names; Kobe disagrees.

Johnny Bravo has finalized it’s 2014 roster, and some of the sport’s onlookers are eager to issue this Bravo team a free pass to the finals against Revolver on the past achievements of it’s component parts. In fact, never mind the regular season, let’s get to work on abolishing every other team and turning nationals into a best-of-seven series between Boulder and the bay.

But I’m with Jurgen; Kobe’s contract is a joke and we deserve nothing that we don’t earn this year. Landon Donovan took three months off, part of it during the qualifying stages. Our out-of-region players will buy more flights to practices than to tournaments. And let’s not forget: it was Boston and Seattle who played the far more polished semi-final in 2013. Given Seattle’s trademark plasticity and Boston’s discipline, I’m not sure that isn’t the match-up we should all want to watch seven times.

All that said, it’d be pretty nice to slot Donovan into Jozi’s spot for 30 minutes a game right now…

‎”Jackson Kloor, a 4th year cutter out of Colorado has game changing speed and explosiveness. Showed inconsistent hands early in his career but has the upper body strength and quick feet to beat pressing man coverage. Will take advantage of a poaching defender, lose him for a second and he’s gone. Long strider with excellent top-end speed and it translates to film. Tracks the deep shot well and can adjust to it without taking his eyes off it. In recent years he’s shown the ability to elevate to get the disc with one hand. The use of gloves have greatly improved his confidence which has made him a very effective club player. He made waves at the Combine with exemplary showings in the 40 yard dash and broad jump as well as coach interviews where I’m told he showed tremendous character and love for the game. He’s truly lived up to his Showtime image, he’ll be that red flash blowing by defenders for the foreseeable future.“

‎”Jack McShane, a 6’0” 170 lb handler out of Colorado is a rare combination of brash confidence and humble play. One of the more talented players on exceptionally talented teams his entire career, Captain Jack never received the national talk of some of his teammates but quietly has earned enough respect to be named captain of Johnny Bravo in only his 3rd season, his 1st out of college. Intelligent, driven and grounded. Takes well to coaching. Outstanding work ethic. Has developed into a very good leader. Knows when to push teammates and knows when to protect. Well-respected by teammates and a proven winner. Rare grasp of the offense, both micro and macro. Ideal mental and physical toughness. Hangs tough in zone O and unfazed by defender physicality. Can bounce back from mistakes. McShane was named in a number of anonymous magazine polls asking current players for the most frustrating person to guard. On D, he has shown the ability to guard both tall and short, speed and savvy, and despite being relatively young in the sport, is one of the more cerebral players in the game. No significant off the field issues, was reportedly involved in an altercation in a dive bar where he allegedly told a rival pool player to “suck the [expletive]” a number of times. Was recently featured in the Us Weekly “Just Like Us” section wearing sweatpants in a local Boulder restaurant.”

‎”Jimmy Mickle, a 6’2” 195lb 3rd year handler for Colorado is one of the more versatile talents the program has ever produced. Mickle possesses elite top-end speed and agility for position. Height plays a significant factor in how teams should prepare for him, while he’s widely considered a handler, his speed and jumping ability make him a high end receiving option as well. Mickle carries an average amount of bulk and can continue to get stronger,which he has done every year on Mamabird. He carries a smooth delivery, little bit longer than ideal but not a wind-up delivery. Overall he’s very smooth and relaxed and the disc explodes off his hand. His length also allows him to generate tremendous torque which makes him quite possibly the most prolific puller in the sport. He was the top finisher in this year’s Combine in pull hang time, pull accuracy, and vertical leap and scored high on the Wonderlic. In addition to his tremendous field acumen, Mickle’s reputation in the community is top notch which along with his sure franchise player status, will add to any organizations profit margin through gear sales.”

‎”Ryan Farrell,a 5’10” handler out of William & Mary who’s been described as a “tweener” has strong passing skills,violent hands and a great motor. Battles and holds up well against physicality. In the Combine, Farrell shined in the 20-yard shuttle and 3 cone drill and his up and under move has been described by many as “ungodly”. After taking just 3 years to graduate, Farrell was drafted early by PoNY before leaving as a free agent to Johnny Bravo. In Farrell,Bravo picked up a dependable handler capable of hitting the big shot or using his superior quickness to weave the disc down the field. Scouts first picked up on Farrell as a freshman on a William & Mary team that made the semifinals in 2002. Farrell’s aggressiveness, which borders on overbearing at times,more than makes up for his small stature. In 2009, Farrell was involved in 2 separate incidents on Boulder’s Pearl Street that had scouts questioning his character, but in recent years, his many community service projects and recent engagement have rehabilitated his image. His teammates respect him enough to have voted him a unanimous captain for the 3rd straight year.”

And we don’t mean “Breaks Down” in the way that Ryan Farrell once broke Evan Padget down during a Bravo vs. Bird scrimmage during Padget’s college days.

‎”Johnny Bravo selected New Jersey native, Evan El Greco Padget with a mid round pick last season after a compelling and often controversy-filled career at Colorado. Padget goes 5’10” and anywhere between 145 and 190 depending on the time of year. Padget, began his career as a shaky handler where early on, coaches classified him as a psychological enigma. In his latter seasons, he developed into a rock solid handler in the middle of an ever changing lineup of quality players. A foray with gloves and a penchant for ill-advised anti-prophetic statements earned him headlines in the news over his career but his physical measurements were the best we’ve seen from him at the Combine. Evan led the combine with a 75mph forehand toss and in true Padget style, made headlines over his 0 score on the Wonderlic. Details have since come out that he answered none of the questions and instead left somewhat troubling rebuttals of almost every question with a detailed account of how his [fl]ick and forehand would answer the questions. Despite the many controversies, teammates and coaches have gone out of their way to praise Padget’s leadership and work ethic. Bravo took a risk drafting him but they’ve already realized substantial dividends on their investment, both on and off the field”

‎”Clark Bishop, a 5’10” 170 lb cutter out of Colorado by way of Cherry Creek High School in Denver is an explosive deep with outstanding speed and great readability. Clark joined CU as a walk-on out of Cherry Creek and excelled as a defensive specialist before earning a spot as an O line cutter in his 3rd year alongside current and former Bravo greats Beau Kittredge, Jolian Dahl, and Josh Ackley. This coincided with a seemingly overnight increase in muscle mass which had detractors talking steroids, those charges haven’t been substantiated and Bishop supporters have pointed to the fact that his cranial size while big, hasn’t grown with his increased body mass. At the combine, Bishop ran a blazing 4.6 in the 40 and put up 31 reps on the press. Some teams balked at the opportunity to draft him because his unwillingness to participate in throwing drills or the vertical leap but Johnny Bravo jumped at the chance to take him and have been rewarded with a top 10 talent goal scorer as well as a player who can generate Ds and neutralize speedy opponents.”